The Jon M. Huntsman Center might stay put after all.
Last year, the University of Utah board of trustees approved a plan to consider constructing a new multipurpose arena. But the U. appears likely to reverse course on that decision.
No plan has been finalized just yet, but U. officials on Tuesday pitched a new plan to renovate the Huntsman Center, shrink its capacity and add more premium suites.
A university spokesperson told The Salt Lake Tribune that the final plan for the arena will be voted on March 10 at the U.’s next trustees meeting.
“It’s our home,” Utah Athletic Director Mark Harlan said at Utah’s board of trustees meeting on Tuesday. “... The one thing that has become more and more apparent to me is that where we are located is such a great spot.
“All the residential halls for the students and our students who compete live right there. I think renovation-plus is where I’m my mindset is right now with a lot more work to do. ... But an athletic director’s dream is to be in the middle of that student area, where students can just come into games and flood into it.”
The 57-year-old arena is currently the home for the Utes’ men’s basketball, women’s basketball and gymnastics teams. It currently has roughly 15,000 seats available to Utah’s fans.
Harlan said there is “a need for us to maybe downsize a little bit based on data that we’ve found and create more premium areas.”
Despite having one of the larger arena’s in the Big 12, the Runnin’ Utes men’s basketball team currently has the 10th-best attendance average in the conference, bringing in 7,224 fans per game, according to the Big 12’s analytics.
Utah’s women’s basketball and gymnastics teams bring in an average attendance of 2,524 and 11,135, respectively.
Harlan also said there’s a need to improve parking around the renovated arena.
“As I’ve told these guys, if we can solve the parking issue, which right now is probably our number one issue,” Harlan said. “It’s very difficult to park there. You’ve got great TRAX [access] there, obviously. So that’s where I’m going to be spending a lot of my time.”
Utah’s Chief Operating Officer Jeff Labrum added: “We do need to solve a challenge with getting to the Huntsman Center. You can attend events there, but it’s difficult to get there. ... We believe we can solve the problem through a mix of parking, whether that be some surface, some new structures and potentially even some underground parking. Not surprisingly, surface parking is the cheapest, the fastest, the easiest, but is also likely going to be the furthest away.”
Utah’s soon-to-be finalized private equity deal with Otro Capital could also play a part in the Huntsman Center’s future, according to Utah President Taylor Randall.
“That’s kind of a big maybe right now,” Randall told The Salt Lake Tribune. “We have a pretty flexible structure with them that allows us to make improvements. They will be a partner in this, and they’ll help us make decisions.”
If the Huntsman Center remains, it will be at the heart of where the U. envisions a major expansion of on-campus student housing.
Randall has called his plan “College Town Magic” and said he wants 11,000 students living on campus by 2027. Currently, the school has about 5,500 dorm beds. Another 1,450 are expected to be available by next fall, pushing the total to just under 7,000.
That means, Labrum said, that about 29% of the full-time students at the school will be living on campus.
The last phase of the “College Town Magic” plan could push that to 12,000, depending on demand, Labrum said.
Part of the U.’s push, too, to expand the dorms is to provide housing for Olympic athletes when the Games come to Utah in 2034.
When Salt Lake City hosted the 2002, the U. also provided housing with its Officers Circle dorms. But it could potentially host all of the roughly 3,000 winter athletes who participate in 2034 with its dorms, if needed.
Troy D’Ambrosio, chief of staff to Randall, said the U. intends to be the “center of the Olympics” when the Games return here.
Labrum noted Tuesday that he is somewhat panicked about finishing construction in time for that, but believes the U. can do it.
“Eight years does not seem like enough time to get everything done that we need to get done,” he said.